No Anger, No Purity

The Philokalia is an early Chistian text that seeks
to help with spiritual formation. Very helpful for today. Here is a section that shows how anger is constructive, even necessary, for spiritual growth.
"1. There is among the passions an anger of the intellect, and this anger is in accordance with nature. Without anger a man cannot attain purity: he has to feel angry with all that is sown in him by the enemy. When Job felt this anger he reviled his enemies, calling them 'dishonourable men of no repute, lacking everything good, whom I would not consider fit to live with the dogs that guard my flocks' (cf Job 30: 1, 4. LXX). He who wishes to acquire the anger that is in accordance with nature must uproot all self-will, until he establishes within himself the state natural to the intellect. "
(On Guarding the Intellect, The Philokalia)

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